During the California Independent Petroleum Association’s Annual Conference, Navigant’s Gordon Pickering and Chris Smith, General Manager for west business development at Shell Energy North America, participated in a panel discussion that shed light on the future of the coal and natural gas industry.
Although coal is still the primary source of generating the country’s electric power, some experts are forecasting that increasing utilization of natural gas resources can soon replace coal as the number one source for energy. Pickering maintains that an incremental shift from coal generation to natural gas would sharply reduce carbon dioxide emission while saving consumers money and minimizing economic upset.